Making Memoirs
by etraytin
Summary: More than two years after splitting up, Will and Kate find themselves in a mess together and get a chance to catch up.


Author's Note: Another short and fluffy one, yay! This prompt comes from Paige, who asked for Will and Kate after Will is a Congressman. I'm starting to run low on prompts again, and some of the ones I still have are stumping me, so if you've got some to offer, now's a good time. Fluff and happiness are better right now, I can't stand to write sad when all I want is escapism. Hope you all enjoy!

…...

The White House Mess hadn't changed much in three years, Kate decided as she sat down with her mystery muffin and cup of coffee. It wasn't terrible; some of the most powerful people in the country used it as a main source of nutrition, after all. It was just that most of those powerful people didn't really pay much attention to what they were eating, so it was no better than it had to be. Rumor had it that if one wanted a really decent meal in the White House, one had to either make nice with or earn the pity of the East Wing staffers, who had a chef and nutritionist in-house these days. Given that there was some kind of pregnancy-inducing hormone in the water on that side of the building, it probably wasn't a bad idea. Even so, the Mess was as bland as ever.

"Here's a surprising face," Kate heard the voice behind her before she placed it, her body automatically tensing in response to surprise. She'd been out of the field a long time now, her reflexes were a complete disaster, but they'd never really go away. Recognizing the voice didn't actually reduce the tension that much, but it did change slightly as Will Bailey moved into her field of view. "I heard you were at the Pentagon these days."

"Congressman," she acknowledged with a half-smile and a lift of her mug. "I heard you spent most of your time up on the Hill. But who could resist the food here?"

"I'm sure most of the people who visit would find it unbelievable," he agreed. "This seat taken?" She made a go-ahead gesture, so he sat down opposite her with his tray of slightly disconsolate roast beef sandwich, bag of chips, and packaged cookies. "I think they do it on purpose, really," he mused. "You breathe the rarefied air of power upstairs, then you come down here and are suddenly in junior high again. It keeps people humble."

"Or it makes them go home once in awhile," Kate offered with a grin. It was surprisingly easy to smile at him, after how awkwardly things had ended with them last time. But there had been no real hard feelings, she couldn't go and she couldn't tell him to stay, so he'd gone. And she'd been right, since there he was in Congress, just as she'd predicted. "Do you have a policy initiative you're working on?"

"I'm cosponsoring the Clean Air, Clean Fuel Initiative with a half-dozen other congressmen, but I'm pretty sure I just got invited up here so Josh Lyman could yell at me," Will answered ruefully. "I think he misses being deputy chief more than he lets on."

"Yelling at you by proxy through Sam isn't enough?" she chuckled.

"Sam's actually not that much of a yeller," Will confided. "He prefers to talk people into submission. Once he gets started, he can roll along pretty much indefinitely until you aren't sure he's not talking in one long unbroken sentence with no verbs, but you know you'd give almost anything if he would just stop." His grin belied his words; Kate already knew how much Will admired Sam Seaborn's way with words. "If that doesn't work, then he yells."

"So you're the designated Congressional punching bag this week?"

He shrugged. "It's a living. Negative attention's better than nothing at all."

"There are worse things than frequent visits to the White House to bolster a reelection campaign," she agreed.

Will took a bite of his sandwich and nodded. "How's the NSA treating you?"

"Little torqued right now," she admitted with a grin. "I just turned in my notice and my superiors aren't entirely pleased about it."

He goggled. "You're quitting? Where are you going?"

Kate gave an expansive shrug. "Here and there, I guess. I've got a couple of freelance security consultant gigs lined up." She dropped her voice, though she couldn't have said exactly why, and mumbled "I've got a book deal."

That didn't ease the goggling from Will even a little. "A book deal?" he repeated. It was a little like talking to a Furby. "Will people get arrested just for reading it?"

"Not everything I've ever done is classified," she reminded him defensively. "A lot of it is going to be how I got started, going through training, dealing with the sexism, stuff like that. The military and the CIA both need a much stronger female presence, and the only way that's going to happen is if the women who are there can demystify it for girls still coming up. I'll have to get manuscript approval from the powers that be, but they've approved it in theory."

"That's exciting!" Will truly seemed enthusiastic about the idea, which eased Kate's nerves a little bit. Will was an actual writer before he was a campaign manager or even a politician. His gifted speeches had been the key to winning over his new constituency, despite him not being a native Oregonian. "I'll have to tell Elsie about it, she wanted to be a CIA agent when she was little, before she realized all the studying involved. It's probably just as well," he confided, "she can't keep a secret worth a damn."

"That could be a problem in the CIA," Kate agreed with mock gravity. "Maybe I'll give you a manuscript copy and have you proofread it." She made the offer lightly enough that she could pass it off as a joke if she wanted to.

"I'd be happy to," he told her immediately. "Just email a copy whenever to my assistant Lauren and she'll print it out for me." Kate smiled at him for that, but didn't know quite what to say. Dealing with men was ridiculously complicated when she wasn't Kate the Soldier or Kate the Spy. "So," he continued after a moment of silence, "I hope you don't mind me being nosy, but I asked around a little bit when I got to town about whether you were seeing anyone."

She gave him a small, enigmatic smile. "I've been keeping pretty busy," she told him. "Not a lot of time for a social life."

"I know that feeling," he agreed. "I'm beginning to see why some congressmen sleep in their offices."

"So does that mean you're not seeing anyone either?" she asked.

"Alas, yes," he agreed. "I can't even flirt with my assistant, partially because she's a child and partially because she tells me she only dates women with the same name as her. So that's really three strikes right there."

Kate laughed. "It does occur to me that I've had some time open up in my schedule," she remarked, "what with turning in my resignation this afternoon and all."

Will gave her a long, warm look. "That's interesting," he told her. "I've been meaning to free up some time in my schedule as well. How do you feel about takeout dinners in a junior congressman's office?"

"Is that a step up or down from takeout dinners in a White House staffer's office?" she asked.

"Not as much space," Will admitted, "but I do keep beer there."

"I think I can make the time," Kate allowed with a grin.

"Excellent." Will grinned back. It made him look very boyish, despite the gray starting to tint his temples. "Tomorrow night, eightish?"

"Sounds good." Kate hesitated a moment, then took a risk. "You know, Will, I'm glad you went to Oregon, but I've still kicked myself a few times for the way I told you to go."

He actually blushed, which was kind of adorable. "I'm glad I went to Oregon too," he replied, "but I've kicked myself a few times for not finding a way to commute."

"You'll be commuting a lot now," she observed. "And my work can travel."

"Could be handy," he agreed with a smile.

She nodded. "Could be."


End file.
